Numerous software programs and websites have been developed to facilitate advertisement production. U.S. Patent Application 2002/0036654 invented by Evans discloses a computerized method for a user to create an advertisement utilizing a plurality of advertising formats by using templates for selected products and creating a preview of the proposed advertisement. The Evans invention may be accessed on the World Wide Web using a browser, and the resulting advertisement may be exported to a web page, e-mail, print media, and the like. The application of Evans, however, does not disclose a fully integrated advertising system permitting a user to automatically incorporate user specified inventory details into the advertisements. The product references of Evans are stored in a database, and the user cannot generate advertisements for novel products or properties. Furthermore, the invention of Evans does not facilitate virtual tours of the products displayed. Although the invention of Evans permits the advertisement to be exported into a web page, it does not build a web page or web site.
U.S. Patent Application 2002/0065739 invented by Florance describes a system and method for collection, distribution, and use of information in connection with commercial real estate, and involves creating a web-based marketplace to facilitate buying and selling of commercial properties by producing a large-scale database containing commercial property data which can then be data mined for the desired information. The invention of Florance is quite complicated and does not facilitate individual advertisement by real estate brokers targeted to consumers.
U.S. Patent Application 2002/0035494 invented by Eckes teaches a multilevel modular database software product advertising distribution system which enables multiple businesses to operate interactively with one another using the World Wide Web. The invention therein facilitates the advertisement of real estate properties by providing information to real estate brokers and the like regarding local schools, crime, property values, etc. The invention of Eckes provides template and style standards to coordinate with a layout style chosen by a customer at a broker's facility. Artisians are utilized to produce advertisements for web pages, and the like. The invention of Eckes requires the aid of programmers and artisians to generate web page advertisements, does not facilitate the use of virtual tours, and is unnecessarily complicated for the end user as compared to the present invention.
Communication between software applications and computers remotely over the Internet are well known. U.S. Pat. No. 6,125,384 issued to Brandt shows a computer apparatus and method for communication between software applications and computers on the World Wide Web. U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,908 issued to Lagarde discloses a computer network for World Wide Web server data access over the Internet.
Furthermore, numerous methods for generating web pages exist in the prior art. U.S. Patent Application 2002/0049788, applied for by Lipkin, describes a method and apparatus for generating web content by providing a web page generation engine. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,247,032 and 6,308,188 issued to Bernardo discloses a software tool for simplifying the creation of Web sites. U.S. Pat. No. 5,968,119 issued to Stedman discloses a method of accessing information from a remote host computer to a client computer via the Internet to generate web pages.
It is know to use computerized templates to generate printed pages. U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,968 issued to Warmus describes an apparatus and method for controlling an “electronic press” to print fixed/variable information, which utilizes templates to generate pages for printing via electronic printers. It is also known to utilizes templates over the web, with on-site computers, to generate magazines and the like. Quark (trademark) provides software, such as Xflow (trademark) 1.01, which may be utilized for publishing applications on Mac OS (trademark) platforms.
Additional related art exists to facilitate business searches and transactions utilizing computers and the Internet. U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,210 issued to Call discloses a method and apparatus for disseminating product information via the internet by linking universal product codes thereby facilitating product research on the internet, which method and apparatus illustrates the use of the internet for sales information. U.S. Pat. No. 5,963,925 issued to Kolling describes an electronic statement presentment system that allows a biller to direct a statement or invoice electronically to a consumer, which uses a template to generate the statement/invoice. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,897,260 and 5,813,348 issued to Zingher illustrate print job allocation systems that are interconnected with user computers and printers over a network. U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,712 issued to DuFresne illustrates a client-server system using embedded hypertext tags for application and database development. U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,530 issued to Paknad discloses a method and apparatus for identifying words described in a portable electronic document.
None of the above inventions and patents, taken either singularly or in combination, is seen to describe the instant invention as claimed.